Loom harness mechanism



D. c. CHURCHILL LOOM HARNESS MECHANISM Dec. 26, 1939.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16, 1938 INVENTOR.

, DAVID c. CHURCHILL. 9 b F|6.|I. BY

H/ ATTORNEY.

' D. c. CHURCHILL Filed Feb. 16, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R EH .O VCJ NR 1U A w C h m. WM lfl 2 m F N.

Dec. 26, 1939. D. c. CHURCHILL LOOM HARNESS MECHANISM Filed Feb. 16, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 5.

I INVENTOR AVID C. CHURCHILL -1 ATTORNEY.

FIG.6.

Patented Dec. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE 2,184,410 LOOM HARNESS MECHANISM David Carroll Churchill, Berea, Ky. Application February 16, 1938, Serial No. 190,792

18 Claims.

This invention relates to textile looms and particularly to shedding mechanisms therefor.

The invention is particularly applicable to socalled hand operated looms and will be illustrated and described herein in connection with such a loom.

In prior looms of the class in which a plurality of heddle harnesses are employed operated by a plurality of pedals, a great deal of time and tedim ous labor must be expended in setting up and adjusting the heddle harnesses and pedals for a change of weaving pattern and for maintaining the shedding system in sufficiently accurate relation.

It is therefore among the primary objects of this invention to provide for looms generally an improved shedding mechanism which can be easily and quickly changed over and adjusted for efiicient operation upon going from one weaving pattern to another even when a large number of heddle harnesses and pedals is employed and to provide means for maintaining with ease and celerity, while weaving, the various parts of the shedding mechanism in proper relation to each other for fast work without having to tie and untie knots for adjustments as has been necessary in the past.

Other objects are:

To provide an improved mechanism whereby a loom harness may be raised and lowered responsive to a momentary pressure on the corresponding pedal in an improved manner;

To provide an improved loom harness raising mechanism whereby both ends of the harness 35 will move equally thus avoiding rocking of the harness, even when the maximum number of harnesses is employed;

To provide improved means for transmitting the lifting force from a loom pedal to the harness to give equal vertical travel to both ends of the harness;

To provide improved means to lessen the time utilized in making necessary adjustments of the heddles;

45 To provide improved means for levelling up a loom harness or a plurality thereof;

To provide an improved harness operating pedal construction for looms;

To provide improved means for adjustment of the entire shedding mechanism;

To provide an improved lam construction for looms;

To provide an improved means for adjusting the connection between the pedals and lams of a loom;

To provide an improved mechanism for transmitting the movement of a loom pedal to the harness to be raised thereby;

To provide an improved mechanism for returning downwardly to its normal position the harness 5 of a loom;

To provide improved means for a general adjustment of the whole shedding system relative to the lines of warp whereby after the adjustment between the parts of the heddle operating system has been made, the depth of the shed determined, the alignment of harness accounted for and all other adjustments made, by a slight movement the frame holding all the mechanism may be adjusted to a micrometer position.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 20

Fig.v 1 is a front elevational view of a heddle frame and heddle harness and the raising and lowering mechanism therefor; the view showing in cross section a part of the 100m pedals;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view illustrating upper portions of the parts of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side sectional view taken from the plane 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view to enlarged scale of a part of the mechanism of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of one of the pedals of the loom, the view being taken in the direction of the arrow 5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the pedals of the loom, the view being taken in the direction of the arrow 6 of Fig. 5 and rotated through 90, and the showing of the pedals in Fig. 1 corresponding to a section taken from the plane l---i of Fig. 6;

Fig. 7 is a side sectional View to an enlarged scale taken from the plane l! of Fig. 1 illustrating a plurality of lams in a lam housing and one of the pedals associated therewith;

Fig. 8 is a front elevational fragmentary view of one of the lams illustrated in Fig. 1 showing an adjustment feature which I may employ;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of one of the lams of Fi 8;

Fig. 10 is a top plane view of the lams and 1am frame, the view being taken from the plane Ifll 0 of Fig. 1 and drawn to a larger scale and with the connections to the lams omitted for clearness;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view to an enlarged scale illustrating part of the harness raising mechanism of Fig. 1;

Fig. 12 is 'a fragmentary view illustrating a modification of the harness raising mechanism of Figs. land 11;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary sectional view to enlarged scale of a part of Fig. 11;

Fig. 14 is a top plan view illustrating fragmentarily a part of the mechanism of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown at l-I a part of the main frame of the loom comprising upright side members 2-2 upon which the heddle frame shown generally at 3 is suspended, by an upper transverse head t overlapping at its opposite ends the upper ends of the side members 2. The preferred means of mounting comprises rods 5-5 threaded through the ends of the head 4 and rotatable in suitable bores in the side members and provided above the head 4 with cranks 66. By turning the cranks an adjusting upward and downward movement of the heddle frame 3 may be accomplished but an equally important function is to turn one rod more or less than the other to level up the heddle frame. These adjustments are also particularly important in saving time required for adjustment to compensate for stretching of cords, which occurs, in slight amount, continually from the time the loom is first set up. Keeping the cords of a loom in adjustment is a continuous process and any help, such as this, which allows it to be done by a twist of the wrist is very useful and important.

The shedding frame 3 comprises generally side members l-l depending from the head 4 connected at their lower ends by a pair of transverse bars 88. The inner ends of the guides 9-9 being joined by stop members lQ-lil with the underside of which the heddle harnesses, to be described, engage to limit and stop their upward movement. The stops l8l0 may be provided with pads l l! I to soften the blow of the harness and eliminate noise. A single pair of stops lilfl may be provided for all of the harnesses as in dicated in Fig. 3. The harnesses are illustrated at |2-|2, there being in the embodiment illustrated eight harnesses. In their downward normal positions, the harnesses i2 are supported on, and in their downward movement are stopped upon stops i3l3 which are preferably provided with buffer pads lfi-Hl, the stops l3-l3 being supported upon metal posts or rods l5-l5 secured to the lower bars 3-8 by having threaded portions passed therethrough and provided with nuts above and below the bars 8-8, see Figs. 1 and 3. The lower stop 63 and its buffer [4 may be adjusted so that all warp threads or ends will just clear the lay or shuttle race. The upper stop may be adjusted to limit the rise of the upper shed bringing all ends composing it to a level or even line. The position of the lower and upper stops is determined principally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, by the size of the shuttle used.

Directly above and co-planar with each frame [2 is a pair of levers i'l-ll formed in the embodiment illustrated, from wood approximately of the thickness of the wood from which the harnesses i2 are made. Each lever l! is supported by a double cord it which, at its lower end, is projected through a bore IS], in the lever and knotted as at 28 at the lower end of the bore, the upper end of the bore as at 25 (see Fig. 11) being enlarged into a recess whereby the cord may bend at the center line of the lever and whereby the cord I8 may support the lever at its center line, and help maintain its plane of action.

At the upper end of the cord I8 it is projected through a bore 22 in the head 4 and above the head is looped over a wedge 23 which rests upon the head 4. By adjustably moving the wedge, the supported point of the lever l! may be raised or lowered to adjust it by micromatic increments.

As an alternative mode of adjusting the effective length of the cord IS, the upper end of the cord may be projected through the bore and knotted above the head 4 and the lower end, after passing through the bore 59 in the lever H, (see Fig. 12) may be looped through a cam form perforation 24 in a disc 25 seated in a recess 26 in the underside of the lever. By turning the disc 25 in one direction or the other, the lever I! will occupy a position farther up or farther down on the lower end of. the cord 18. This cam form is in effect a circular wedge and it is to be understood that this may, if preferred, be introduced at any of the cord joints in the shedding levers or other parts of the mechanism.

The harness I2 is secured to the outer shorter end of the lever by a cord 2'? secured at its lower end in an eye 28 on the upper edge of the harness and at its upper end, the cord 2'! being passed through a bore 29 in the lever and knotted thereabove, the lower end of the bore 29 being enlarged into a recess 39 to cause the cord to act on the center line of the lever. Adjacent the inner and preferably longer end of the lever i1, is secured a depending cord 38, the cord being passed upwardly through a bore 32 and knotted above the lever and the lower end of the bore being enlarged into a recess 33 whereby this cord also may act at the center line of the lever. By means to be described, a pedal may pull downwardly on the cord 3| and rock the lever ll and raise the corresponding end of the harness 52.

As stated above, two levers ll are provided each constructed as above described and each having a cord ill for rocking the lever. The inner ends of the levers 11-4 7 are hingingly connected together so that if either lever ll is rocked both will be rocked an equal amount so that both ends of the harness 12 will be equally raised. Thus, if the operating force from the pedal should be applied more strongly to one cord 3! than to the other, as may occur, both ends of harness i2 will be raised equally. A coil spring 34 is inserted into longitudinal bores in the ends of the levers ll-ll and secured at its inner ends by an ordinary eye-form wood screw 35 screwed into the end of the spring engaging by its threads the convolutions thereof and the eye head of the screw engaging the shoulder 36 of a recess 3? in the lever which is made large enough to admit the screw thereintopreparatory to screwing it into the end of the spring.

By this means a frictionless hinging connection is provided between the ends of the levers I? by which one lever may rock the other and by which the inner ends of the levers may rock upon each other, their ends being rounded off as at 38 for this purpose.

By causing the cords l8, 2'! and 31 to act upon the lever ll on its center line, there is little or no tendency for the lever to rock transversely on its axis and what tendency there may be is counteracted by the engagement of the sides of the recesses 2!, 30 and 33 respectively with the respective cords.

As referred to" above, my invention is particularly applicable to looms in which a relatively great number of harnesses or frames are employed. Eight are shown, although a greater or lesser number of the same, of course, maybe the samefor each harness, the leverage ratio of the levers |l|| is made increasingly greater for those levers above the rearward harnesses successively. To this end, the levers I! are made in sets, one pair for each harness and the cord I8 is connected to the lever nearer to the cord 3| on the successive levers rearwardly. To maintain the cords |8--| 8 vertical to avoid side swing in such successive levers, the cords are projected through the head 4 through bores 2222 progressively nearer the center line of the mechanism, as shown in Fig. 2 wherein the bores 22 are disposed on an inclined line across the head 4; and upper fragmentary portions of the successive cords |8 being shown at |8a in Fig. 1 and corresponding wedges therefor being shown at 23c as they would appear if all of the cords l8 were of precisely the same length including the loops thereof. In practice, the wedges 23 may appear more nearly as shown in Fig. 2.

As will now appear, the cords |8-|8, 21-21 and 3|3| may all be of standardized lengths and the levers ||-||'may all be alike except for the location of the bore |9 and recess 2| (Fig. 11) therein longitudinally of the lever. When therefore with'the inner ends of the lever hingingly connected together, both ends of the harness l2 will be at the same level, any slight discrepancy being compensated for by adjustment of the ef- 'fective lengths of the twocords |8|8 of each unit; and while all of the levers will occupy the same relative position for all of the harnesses from front to back, when the harnesses are in their lower. position, the levers will nevertheless move the rearward harnesses |2| 2 higher and higher progressively rearwardly through the set, to correctly form the shed as referred to.

Each of the cords 3| is connected by a link 39 to a renewable continuation 40 thereof, each pair of cords 49 at their lower end being connected to opposite end portions of a lam 4| mounted to slide vertically each in a groove 42 formed in end pieces 43-43 of a 1am frame indicated generally at 44 secured to and between the bars 8-8 and rendered removable by being clamped therebetween,by bolts |45l45. The lam frame andlams may therefore be constructed as a unit. When the harnesses |2-| 2 are in theirnormal lower positions, the cords 40 hold the lams 4|4| in their uppermost positions such as that shown for the lam 4|a in Fig. '7 and as shown for the solid line lam in Fig. 1. The cords 49 may be secured to the lams simply by projecting them through suitable bores in the lams and knotting them on the under side. The lams are arranged to be pulled downwardly by pedals presently to be described to effect raising of the harnesses, one for each lam and then take up the lower position shown at 4 lb in Fig. 7 and in dotted line in Fig. 1.

The pedals illustrated herein are eight in number, one for each harness, and are shown at 45-45, Figs. 1, 5, 6 and 7. Different numbers of these pedals may be employed with each harness as is known in the art, depending on the tie-up according to the pattern. The rearward ends of the pedals 45 have bolted to their under sides hinge member 46 each provided with two holes in the downwardly projecting legs for bearings. The pivot for the hinges 46 of all the pedals generally is a rod 48 lying in a groove and fastened to the wooden member 41. The hinge members have their legs wide apart and fit the rod closely but loosely to guide the motion of the pedals with precision and little action.

An adjustable counter weight 49, rearwardly of the bearing, counter-balances the pedal projecting forwardly therefrom. Each pedal has a footpiece 50 secured to its upper surface, see Fig. 5, designed to permit the required vertical motion of the pedals without interference of the weavers heels.

In designing the present pedal mechanism, cognizance was taken of the foot action desired in a loom and thus the distance which the foot is required to move is the maximum distance possible since less pressure is required as the foot is moved farther. Frictionless joints are also utilized wherever possible so that friction is reduced toa desired minimum. This together with the maximum distance designed for the foot to travel prevents undue fatigue on the part of the weaver.

In a loom so designed levers of the first, second or third class by suitable linkages, may be used with equally good results provided only that the leverages are such as to give the foot the greatest physiologically allowable distance to travel, and that the friction is kept at a minimum.

At their forward ends, each pedal 45 has mounted on the end thereof an extension 5|. These extensions are narrow and grouped closely together as shown in Fig. 6. They are preferably made parallel to each other so that the cord connections to the lams may be vertical and parallel, and thus produce less friction, have more uniform mechanical action and be easier tofind and adjust than would otherwise be possible. The pedals 45 are wide enough to accommodate the feet of the weaver and are long enough forwardly of their hinge connections to give substantially vertical movement to the extension and to this end, the pedals 45 are arranged fan-wise 54 may be projected at its lower end through each I bore 53 and knotted on the underside of the extension 5| and at its upper end may be secured to a lam by an adjustable means to be described and shown in Figs. '7, 8 and 9. Thus each extension and pedal may, by a cord 54, be connected to any one or any desired number of the lams 4|-4|. These various combinations may be pre-selected for the weaving pattern to be made by pre-selecting which cords 54 are to be connected to which lams 4|.

In the preferred connection between the cord 54 and the lam 4|, the cord 54, as shown in Fig. 8, is projected upwardly from the extension 5| through a bore 55 in the lam and then upwardly and over a groove 56 in a block 5! and then downwardly through a bore 58 in the lam and knotted on the under side thereof. A screw 59 is threaded through the lam 4| having its head below the lam and at its upper end being rotatably mounted in the lower side of the block 51. By turning. the screw 59 with a screw driver, the block 51 will be propelled in one direction or-the other to tighten or loosen the cord 54. A screw 59 is provided for each cord 54. The lams 4|4| will have normally, when the harnesses are in their normal be readily removed from the lam frame.

groove 42 which, as shown in Fig. '7, may be near or at the top and the cords 54 may, by the means described, be quickly and easily adjusted until by such position of the lam 4|, the pedal extensions 5| and therefore the pedals will all be in horizontal alignment at the same level.

In the preferred embodiment it is to be noted that all downward pulling on the lams by the pedals is done at points well within the points of attachment on the lams of the upward leading cords 40 and 3! which reach through the warp to the overhead levers II. It is to be noted that the distance from center to center of the pedal tips 45 is thus preferably less than the distance from center to center of the leading cords All to 40 and 3| to 3|, so that the lam action may be properly effected.

In making the connection between the lams and the pedals for a given weaving pattern, the preferred mode of operation is as follows: The

upper ends of the cords 46 are secured to the cords 3| by the said links 39 and may readily be detached therefrom and then the lams may Similarly the extensions 5| may easily be removed from the pedals by unbolting them. Then these parts may be removed to a work bench and selected cords may be secured at one end to each extension and at the other end connected to the selected lams and the parts then reassembled in the pedal frame and finally the adjustment made by suitably adjusting the cords 54 by the screw 59.

In some of the many possible set up combinations, the lam 4| which is connected by a cord 54 to one pedal extension 5! may be also connected to another pedal extension and pulled downwardly thereby. In such case the first mentioned cord connection will be rendered slack as shown, for example, in broken line at '10, Fig. 1. Such slack cords tend to loop downwardly and the rearwardmost cord may tend to loop under and foul with the forward end of the extension 5| To prevent this, the extensions are each provided with a toe H extending from the extension at suitable distance.

Illustrated generally at 6066 is a pair of jacks for returning downwardly each harness l2. One pair of jacks is disposed under each harness as shown in Fig. 3. An upper rail 6| and a lower rail 62 are supported on the bars 8-8 upon threaded rods 63-63 projected through the bars 8-8 and secured by nuts above and below the bars. The rods are threaded through the rails 6i and 62 and locked by nuts G l-64. A tension spring 65 is secured at an upper end to the rail 6i and at its lower end is secured to the underside of a jackarm 66; and a tension spring 6'! is secured at its lower end to the rail 62 and at its upper end is secured to the upper side of the jackarm. This arrangement is preferably provided by projecting the ends of the springs 65 .and S? in opposite directions through a vertical slot or perforation in the jackarm .68. By this arrangement, the jackarm which extends in a direction parallel to the harness l 2 directly above it is resiliently constrained to move in the direction to depress its outer end, and a cord 69 isconnected to said outer end at the lower end of the cord and at the upper end, the cord is connected to an eye i'lfl secured to the harness.

The arms '66 will thus constantly exert a downward resilient force on the harness holding it "lower position, anormal positionat'the top of the .in its downward position upon the: pad M. A

jackarm 66 is provided under each end of each harness to hold both ends down equally;

The jackarms 66 are prevented from rocking laterally by engagement of the'side walls of the slot 68 with the springs themselves and the springs support the jackarm 66 as well as supplying to it the force tending to depress the arm 66.

When, as above described, the harness I2 is raised by depression of a pedal, the cord 69 raises the jackarm 66 against the tension of the springs 65 and 61 and by disposing the ends of the springs in overlapping relation, it will be observed by reference to Fig. 4. that the upward movement of the arm 66, say to the broken line position, moves the inner ends of the springs 65 and 6'! toward each other so that their tendency to depress the jackarm 66 decreases with its upward movement. It therefore follows that the harness i2 will move all the way up to its top position when the pedal raising it is depressed with an impulse type of pressure, it being unnecessary for the weaver to follow the pedal downwardly with continuous pressure. By this means, the harnesses may be thrown upwardly somewhat in the nature of a-projectile and therefore the operation of the pedals may be rapid and easy.

One row of rails 6| and 62 on each side of the frame suflices for all of the upper and all of the lower springs 65 and 67 respectively and by adjusting the vertical position of these rails, the tension of either the upper or the lower springs or both maybe adjusted and when adjusted may balance as nearly as desired, the weight of the lams and-the pedals.

It is to be understood that numerous and extensive departures may be made from the embodiments herein illustrated and described without, however, departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a loom construction, a heddle harness reciprocable in a frame, a pair of vertically adjustable levers above the harness each pivotally supported at points intermediate the ends thereof, one end portion of each lever connected by a cord to an end portion of the harness, the other end portions of the levers being hingingly connected together and at least one of the levers being connected to a harness operating pedal.

2. In a loom, a frame, a heddle harness reciprocable on the frame, a pair of levers above the harness each pivotally supported at points intermediate of their ends on the frame, one end portion of each lever being connected by a cord to an end portion of the harness, means comprising a pedal to rock the levers by their other ends concurrently, to raise the harness, the pivotal support for each lever comprising a cord connected at an upper end portion thereof to an upper element of the frame and depending therefrom and connected to the lever at its lower end portion and suspending the lever thereby, and means to adjustably change the effective length of the cord to adjustably raise and lower the lever.

3. In .a loom, a heddle frame comprising a frame element, a heddle harness reciprocable on the frame, a pair of lever elements above the harness each pivotally supported at a point intermediate its end by'the frame element, one end .portion of each lever element being connected by a cord to an end portion of .the harness, means comprising a, pedal to rock the lever elements by'their other ends to raise the harness, the said pivotal support comprising for each lever a cord depending from the saidframe element and suspending the lever and the cord secured to one element and projecting through an aper-.

ture in the other element and terminating therebeyond in a loop and a wedge projected through the loop and reciprocal on the apertured element to change the effective length of the cord to raise andlower the lever. 4. In a loom, a heddle frame comprising a frame element, a heddle harness reciprocable on the frame, a pair of lever elements above the harness each pivotally supported at a point intermediate its end by the frame element, one end portion of each lever element being connected by a cord to an end portion of the harness, means comprising a pedal to rock the lever elements by their other ends to raise the harness, the said pivotal support comprising for each lever a cord depending from the said frame element and suspending the lever and the cord secured'to one 2 element and projecting through an aperture in lever connected by a cord extending downwardly to the'harness and the other end of the lever connected'by a downwardly extending cord to a pedal mechanism, the cords each projecting each through an aperture in the lever, each aperture being enlarged outwardly from a point within the lever in the direction of the corresponding cord and disposed so that when the lever is.

rocked the cords will havea hinging movement on the lever on a lever axis within the body of the lever. I I

6. In combination with a loom harness reciprocable in a frame, a lever rockinglysupported on the frame by a cord extending upwardly from the lever at a point intermediate its ends and secured to the frame, one end of the lever connected by a cord extending downwardly to the harness and the other end of the lever connected by a downwardly extending cord to a pedal mechanism, the cords each projected each through an aperture in the lever, each aperture being enlarged outwardly from'a point within the lever in the direction of the corresponding cord and disposed so that when the lever is rocked the cords will have a hinging movement on the lever at points within the body of the lever and whereby the engagement of the sides of the aperture enlargement with the cords prevents lateral rocking of the lever. I

7. In a loom, a frame, a heddle harness reciprocable on the frame, means to raise the harness, a lever pivotally supported on the frame connected to the harness and moved thereby upon raising of the harness, resilient means reacting on the lever and arranged to decreasingly oppose its movement by the rising harness, said resilient means comprising opposing spring elements connected to the lever at each side of the lever axis and adapted to be drawn towards each other upon raising of the harness.

8. In a loom, a frame, a heddle harness reciprocable' on the frame, means to raise the harness, a lever rockingly supported at one portion on. the frame andat another-portion connected to the harness and arranged to be-rocked in one direction by rising movement of the barness, spring means connected to the-frame and reacting on the lever in the direction to oppose said rocking movement thereof by the harness, said spring means comprising opposing springs" connected to the lever at each side of the lever axis and adapted to be drawn towards each'other upon-raising of the harness whereby the reaction of the spring means is on a portion 'of the lever which moves with the rocking thereof into successive positions at which the spring means is successively less effective to oppose the said rocking movement. 7

9. In a loom, a frame, a heddle harness reciprocable on the frame, means to raise the harness, alever rockingly supported at one portion. on the frame and at another portionconnected to the harness and arranged to be rocked'in one direction by rising movement of the harness, a pair of extensible springs each connected at one end tothe frame and extending toward each other and overlapping'at'their other end portions and at their other ends connected to spaced points of the lever and rockingly supporting the lever and opposing rocking movement of the lever by the rising of theharness, the lines of action of the springs in general approaching'each other 'upon said rocking of the lever whereby-the opposition ofthe springs progressively decreases.

10.. The arrangement described in claim 9 and in which the springs overlap each other inaperture means extending through the lever and the spaced points to which the springs are attached are in a common rocking plane of'the lever.

1.'In a loom, a frame, a plurality. of harnesses reciprocable on the frame, a plurality of harness operating mechanisms, a plurality of pedals hav: ing forward portions disposed in closely adjacent parallel relation in a group transversely central of theloom, a pluralityof vertically reciprocable lams "each connected to a harness mechanism; means for selectively connecting the pedal forward portions to each of the lams, thev pedal forward portions being connected to main pedal bodies extending rearwardly in laterally diverging fan-wise relation and hingingly supported at their rearward portions.

12. In a loom, a frame, a plurality of recip-.

rocable harnessesand harness operating mech anisms on the frame, a plurality of reciprocable lams, guidemeans for said-lams, cords connecting thelams to the harness mechanisms, a plurality of pedals, cords connecting the pedals to the lams, means to adjust the length of the latter propelled by ing forwardportions disposed in a group in parallel relation at an angle to thelams, a plurality of cord securing means on each pedal, each cord securing means being under a lam and a plurality of cord securing means on each lam respectively above a cord securing means on a pedal forward portion.

14. In a loom, a frame, a plurality of reciprocable harnesses and harness operating mechanisms on the frame, a plurality of vertically reciprocable lams under the mechanisms, a plurality of pedals under the lam, and means on the pedals for securing lam operating cords thereto, said means comprising an extension detachably secured to the end of the pedal and provided with a plurality of spaced holes, each hole being disposed under a said lam.

15. The loom described in claim 14 and in which an elongated toe is provided on the extension extending forwardly beyond the foremost extension hole.

16. In a textile loom, a frame, a plurality of heddle harnesses reciprocable on the frame, mechanism for reciprocating the harnesses comprising a pair of levers rockingly supported intermediate their ends on the frame and disposed above each harness and having their inner ends hingingly connected together and having their outer ends connected to opposite end portions of the corresponding harness, the levers being each vertically adjustable relative to the frame, a cord depending from a lever inner end portion, a plurality of lams disposed in parallel relation and vertically reciprocably supported on the frame, said depending cord of each lever mechanism secured at the lower end thereof to a lam, a plurality of pedals having forward portions disposed in parallel relation and at an angle to the lams, the lams each being provided with a longitudinal series of cord connecting means and the pedal portions each provided with a longitudinal series of cord connecting means and a plurality, of cords joined at opposite ends to the pedals and lams at selected ones of the connecting means thereof.

17. In a loom, a frame; a heddle harness reciprocable in the frame, lever means above the harness pivotally supported, adjustable means conmeeting the harness to the lever means at a point spaced from the pivotal support, an operating pedal, means connecting the operating pedal to the lever means, supplemental adjustment means for altering the pivotal support of the lever means whereby a predetermined depth of shed 'may be effected, and means for bodily moving both the lever means and harness by small increments to change the operating zone of the harness for a given depth of shed.

18. In a loom, a frame, a plurality of heddle harnesses supported by the frame, a plurality of pedals for actuating the heddle harnesses, means operably connecting a pedal with each harness including a lam, each lam being supported at spaced points outwardly of the point of connection with its associated pedal whereby the pedals will be closely adjacent at saidv con- 

